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| HMS Hampshire |
 
Dates: 1903 - 1916 HMS Hampshire was a Devonshire-class armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was constructed at the Chatham Dockyard, Kent and commissioned in 1905 at a cost of around ?900,000. She served in World War I and fought at the battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916. Immediately after the battle she was directed to carry Lord Kitchener from Scapa Flow on a diplomatic mission to Russia. Sailing for Arkhangelsk in a gale she struck a mine at around 19:40 on June 5, 1916 off Mainland, Orkney between Brough of Birsay and Marwick Head. The ship sank very rapidly. Kitchener, his staff and most of the crew perished; only twelve men survived. The mine is believed to have been one of those laid by the submarine U-75 on May 23. Fritz Joubert Duquesne, a Boer and German spy, claimed to have sabotaged and sunk HMS Hampshire, killing Kitchener and most of the crew. According to German records, Duquesne assumed the identity of Russian Duke Boris Zakrevsky and joined Kitchener in Scotland. On route to Russia, Duquesne signaled a German U-boat to alert them that Kitchener’s ship was approaching. He then escaped on a raft just before HMS Hampshire was destroyed. Duquesne was awarded the Iron Cross for this act. In the 1930s and 40s, he ran the famous Duquesne Spy Ring and was captured by the FBI along with 32 other Nazi agents in the largest espionage conviction in U.S. history. The wreck was designated as a controlled site under the Protection of Military Remains Act. She lies in around 65 metres of water off the north west coast of Orkney. In 1983 one propeller and part of a drive shaft were illegally salvaged. The prop was later given to Lyness museum, Orkney after protests.
Forces Reunited Forum Posts involving HMS Hampshire
" Hawke 192 class 1955. Thence HMS Ranpura, Malta. Two loan drafts to Undine and Surprise. Back home, joined Undaunted. Them HMS Mercury 1957 (changed branches to bunting tosser). Drafted to Gambia, Then Soberton. And finally joined the brand new HMS Hampshire at John Browns Shipyard in Glasgow. ..."
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" A wedding ring belonging to a sailor which lay undisturbed on the seabed for almost 90 years has gone on display at a museum in Orkney today, Wednesday 3 September 2008, after being discovered by a team of amateur divers. The divers presented the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre and Museum, in ..."
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" Field Marshal Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener died on 4 June 1916 when HMS Hampshire struck a mine in the North Sea. Entering the Royal Engineers in 1871, Kitchener saw extensive service in the Near East and Egypt as a surveyor and junior officer. In 1892, while a colonel, he was tapped to be the ..."
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" Horatio Herbert Kitchener was born in Ballylongford near Listowel, County Kerry in Ireland, son of Lt. Col. Henry Horatio Kitchener (1805 – 1894). The family were English, not Anglo-Irish: his father had only recently bought land in Ireland. Kitchener was educated in Switzerland and at the ..."
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"ANYONE WHO JOINED HMS HAMPSHIRE AT CLYDEBANK
BEFORE HER FIRST COMMISSION "
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316 people in our Forces Reunited records 
Pictures of HMS Hampshire
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HMS Hampshire
1903 - 1916
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